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Genealogy

Books, Gazetteers and Guides

Greek Catholic Church Metrical Records

Ukrainian Genealogy: A Beginner's Guide. by John Pihach. (2007) "John D. Pihach's Ukrainian Genealogy is a guide to tracing one's Ukrainian ancestry in Europe. Consideration is also given to North American records that are specifically Ukrainian or relate to the immigrant experience. Because the overwhelming majority of people of Ukrainian origin in Canada and the United States have roots in western Ukraine or southeastern Poland, the guide concentrates on the resources of those regions. This handbook is intended primarily for those whose ethnic roots are Ukrainian, although some of the material in it may be useful to other groups with roots in Ukraine. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss general topics that are preliminary to research. Personal names are examined in chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 outline the early religious experiences of Ukrainians in North America and the church records that are available. Chapter 6 addresses the crucial question of determining the name of the European ancestral community. Chapter 7 explains how to locate places on a map, describes the various administrative divisions that existed in the past, and looks at the many types of maps that pinpoint the location of the ancestral village and even the actual home. The resources for learning the history of a specific region are covered in chapter 8. Chapters 9 and 10 are devoted to church-based birth, marriage, and death records, the principal overseas genealogical resource. Chapters 11 and 12 survey other overseas materials. Several appendixes describe Ukrainian transliteration schemes and present a key to the scripts of the languages that were used in record keeping; provide a starting point for research by other ethnic groups with roots in Ukraine; and list useful Web sites."

Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia: Expanded Data Edition. By Brian J. Lenius. (1999) This gazetteer is only available by mail order from Canada, but there's a fairly fast turnaround and it's worth every penny! Author'sDescription: "This genealogical gazetteer is intended to assist the genealogical researcher in geographically locating the ancestral village and provide the information required to access genealogical records for the area formerly known as Galicia. This edition also includes the Cadastral Community for each village, town, city and estate. This is necessary for accessing land (cadastral surveys) and tax records as well as incredibly detailed Cadastral land maps (scale 1:1,440). The gazetteer is based on names and jurisdictions, except for the current country, for the 1896 to 1914 time period. This book is organized into an introductory section followed by five Appendices. The introductory section provides the reader with a basic overview of Galicia, descriptions of the sections of the gazetteer, instructions on how to use the gazetteer, limitations and history of the gazetteer development, acknowledgements, and an annotated bibliography."

Surnames of Galician Lemkos in the 18th Century. By Ivan Krasovs'kii. (1993) Over a period of several years, Professor Krasovskii (with the assistance of some colleagues) analyzed over 300 volumes of archival documents, including Austrian cadastral (land) records and vital records (metryky) to create this dictionary of Lemko surnames, which is presented alphabetically.

Ancestry Tracking Websites

Ancestry.com. Many Lemko genealogists use Ancestry.com as a sort of "home base" for their genealogy research. It has a powerful database which provides full members (depending on membership subscription) access to both domestic and international records. They also offer a DNA-testing servicethat helps to pinpoint your ethnic origins.

FamilySearch.org. A popular, free website for family research funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). "FamilySearch is a nonprofit family history organization dedicated to connecting families across generations. FamilySearch believes that families bring joy and meaning to life."

Geni.com. This website provides "...a number of collaborative and social resources that help simplify the process of researching genealogy and finding new branches of your family tree." Genealogists use Geni to collaborate with others on family history research.

Genealogy Research Organizations and Websites

The Federation of East European Family History Societies (FEEFHS) "...was organized in 1992 to promote family research in eastern and central Europe. It provides a forum for individuals and organizations focused on a single country or group of people to exchange information and be updated on developments in the field. We invite you to peruse our resource directory, map library, journals archive, event calendar, conference information, and join our e-lists and Facebook chats.Lemko Village Resource Guide (Subset of Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base):

East European Genealogical Society of Winnipeg.According to their website, this nonprofit organization's mission is "...to identify and marshal genealogical resources for east European research." "We invite membership from all persons interested in east European genealogy including all ethnic groups and religions. Members are encouraged to submit information about any resources which they have discovered to be of help to their research."

The Polish Genealogical Society: Even though you're not doing research on “Polish” genealogy, per se, archives in Poland contain information about Lemkos. The PGSA has some information on their website that will be useful to you, including forms and templates, so check them out.

Steve Morse's "One-Step Webpages" (stevemorse.org): "This site contains tools for finding immigration records, census records, vital records, and for dealing with calendars, maps, foreign alphabets, and numerous other applications. Some of these tools fetch data from other websites but do so in more versatile ways than the search tools provided on those websites."

Carpatho-Rusyn Genealogy Website (Rusyn.com):This website is dedicated to researching genealogy of people with Carpatho-Rusyn slavic origins. "The focus at this web site is on information that may aid those interested in genealogy in tracing their ancestors, all or some of whom may have been Carpatho-Rusyns. Much of this information may be found in listings and publications of other ethnic groups. Unlike organizations or individuals whose goals are to primarily promote ethnic identity, the goal at this site is to promote genealogical research for those whose ancestors may be Carpatho-Rusyns. Information posted at this site will reflect that goal."

Other Genealogy Forums and List-Servs

Galicia-Poland Ukraine (Yahoo Group): This interactive internet listserv/forum discusses the former Austrian province of Galicia and all of its ethnic groups. "This group provides information for finding your Galician ancestors and living relatives. Discussions go beyond providing genealogical research help, that is beyond the simple collection of names and dates. Religion, culture, politics, macro history, and current events in Eastern Europe are frequently debated." The group's moderators are: Laurence Krupnak (USA) (screen name Lavrentiy) and Danuta Wojcik (Canada)

Bukowsko Triangle (Yahoo Group): This is an interactive listserv/forum of descendants of multi-ethnic origins from the Bukowsko gmina (municipality) of Sanok powiat (county) in southeastern Poland. Members are have ethnic Ukrainian, Rusyn, Polish, German (Galizien Deutsche) and Jewish roots. Philip Semanchuk is the administrator of the forum, but many of the members are knowledgeable and active.

Family History and Village Websites

It's always a good idea to see what other people are doing with their genealogical research, and they might even inspire you to do the same (if you haven’t already). There are several genealogists with websites out there - if someone with a website is from your ancestral village or area - well, you never know - they might be a distant relative! Here are some of our favorite websites:

Philip Semanchuk’s Family and Genealogy Website: This site includes an interesting collection of antique map scans. You can download the maps to disk and take them to your local printer, where they can be reproduced on paper. Philip also collects and displays other genealogical information, tips and resources that you might want to check out. His family is from the Sanok county area.

Carpathian Highlands.com: Gloria's Genealogy Page. This is the personal genealogy website of Gloria Dran Elston, who has roots in Swiatkowa Wielka, Dudynce and Hrabovcik. Informative and well organized, Gloria's site is fun to explore.

“A Village Cluster” - A few descendants from villages in the Iaslo/Jaslo area of the Lemko region have put together an impressive and nicely produced website called "A Village Cluster." The website focuses on four villages: Pielgrzymka (Peregrymka), Klopotnica, Folusz, and Wola Cieklinska.

Michael Wartella’s Family Website- Mr. Michael Wartella, whose Lemko heritage is from the village of Plonna in the Sanok area, has posted some interesting information about his family history, as well as some general information that can be useful to Lemko genealogical researchers from other families and villages.

The Blechnarka Project - This site has family information for the villages of Blechnarka, Wysowa and Ropki in the Gorlice area.

Please leave a comment if you would like to recommend additional genealogy resources, links, etc. to add to this page! Or email us at lemkohistory@gmail.com

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